Jenbel

And in fairness to TB, I kicked over this can of worms by raising it as a question and providing more data - this was not something they decided to do unilaterally.

If anyone else has concerns about specific fora, then they are free to do the same in a separate thread.

Hunki

Jenbel, since you couldn't restrain the urge to kick this can over, please tell me what will happen to the information that has be delivered in this forum?

Are we going to have to search all over the place for it? Or will in have a link?

Spiff

Off to TravelBuzz! or other appropriate forums is where the relevant threads will go.

cblaisd

Actually, this proposal will make this less of a problem: you already have to "search all over the place" to find relevant info. This will make such user-unfriendly clutter a wee bit less so.

Yup. And given the dearth of threads (although -- oddly enough -- post counts have been up in the last week ) it will be an easily done thing.

Rudi

what is it that the 'close the senior travel forum-fans', who otherwise I appreciate most often as very serious and fair FlyerTalker-posters and contributors, use adjectives like:

* user-unfriendly clutter
* selfish (posters)
etc

to discredit posters and 'fans' of the senior travel forum?

nsx

Rudi, I hold you in high esteem, but that doesn't mean that I will agree with you on every issue. I didn't use those adjectives and you didn't have any answer to my thought experiment. This is absolutely not about personalities. If it were, you would get your way with no argument from me.

Rudi

My opinion is (as is most often in 'life') that there are many arguments pro and contra here too.

In general I don't argue about arguments (I learn from them), I only amend them with some other (my own, in this specific discussion so far missing pro) arguments.

I have difficulties accepting that this 'medal' (forum) has only one side ... I accept without difficulties if on balance the overall/majority judgement differs from my own.

I hate it, when my additional arguments get labelled als they were here by a few some.

cblaisd

The first is mine, not the second, and it in no way is meant to "discredit" the handful of posters in that forum.

But I stand by my pov that the more forums where folks have to search for information the less helpful it is to folks seeking information -- which is after all the main point of FlyerTalk.

kokonutz

I voted no on this proposal.

For me, it comes down to a simple question of demographics.

According to projections based on the U.S. Census, an average of 4.6 adults turned 65 each minute in 2007. In 2025, an average of 8.0 adults in the US will turn 65 each minute. (McNamara, 2006).

These retirement age individuals are expected to live longer and travel more than any group of retirees before them. Retirees account for a large portion of the travel population, with an estimated 23 million retired people intending to travel over a 12-month span, according to 2006 statistics from research firm Focalyst.

Of course, it's not just about retirees. Demographics also show that more and more folks are working past 65, continuing to travel for work and pleasure.

They may not be the frequentest (stats show seniors take far fewer but MUCH longer trips), but as more and more baby boomers hit and/or stay on the road and the population curve shifts toward the right it just makes sense to me for senior travelers to have their own home on FT.

I personally think it's just a matter of time before the forum is discovered by more senior travelers and exploited to its full potential.

SkiAdcock

Koko, just out of curiosity 'what's the matter of time' that you're willing to give it before deciding to keep it open or close it? Or do we just wait 'years' for folk to get old & hopefully find it/post there before finding the info in the other forums that already exist.

I don't think there's a need for the forum & given the lack of threads/posts (w/ the exception of every time it comes up for discussion on closing, it suddenly spikes ) & it seems to be only a very few FTers posting, not sure it needs to stay open. Speaking only for myself I think giving any forum a year makes sense. Please note: I have no idea when Seniors was created. That's just my belief any time a new forum is created.

FWIW & not to send folk to others sites, but as mentioned previously I think there are a lot of other resources re: Seniors & Travel that are available (such as AARP) & those seniors will probably be checking those out before hoofing it over to FT. And I know we've had a senior on this BB say they felt the forum's contents could be handled in current, other existing forums & thus recommended shutting it down. That also has influence with me.

Cheers.

tcook052

A simple question usually isn't answered by the national census. And unless and until that same census shows more senior FTers using the forum in question, I can't see the point in quoting it. Does what happens in the larger world have a direct correlation to that demographics within FT?

I'm with Sharon; how long does this forum need to build a following? I understood that the majority of traffic comes from 3 frequent posters so if it hasn't found an larger audience since its inception, will it ever?

BTW as an aside is this repeated closure debate part of some larger conspiracy to create traffic to the forum. If so it's failed.

cblaisd

Tiny correction. When I counted it last week, it was 38% of the posts that were by present or former members of FlyerTalk. But that percentage would now be slightly higher.

lin821

It's not 2/11/09 yet. However, I assume the TB voting had concluded and the motion passed since Senior Travel Forum is no longer listed under Special Interest Travel (as of now: 2/10/09 8:33pm CST).

Any update from TB about the current stage of this motion?

cblaisd

I also noticed that it had vanished today.

gleff

Randy was online last night when I communicated with him, we'll have to wait for koko however to share the official results

I voted for this motion. I voted against the creation of the forum in the first place, I didn't expect it to receive the kind of critical mass of posts necessary to make it useful (such that there would always be new content to convince people to come back to the forum so there'd be enough people coming back to contribute new content...). And my basic framework for a special interest forum, traffic or no, is whether there's a substantially different travel experience for the group of travelers we're carving out a forum to discuss. Clearly traveling with a disability is a uniquely different travel experience in a way that age alone does not seem to be (and would be borne out by lack of activity in the forum).